The Enemy's Gift
by Lilly Winters
Summary: After his entire family forgets his birthday, Dib is shocked to realize that someone else has remembered. And he is more shocked by who it is that remembers. Zadf.


**A/N**

**Just a short Zadf. No Zadr. I thought it was pretty sweet. Enjoy and Review!**

**I do not own Invader Zim. This is just a story for my awesome fans! ^-^ **

Dib peeked into his dad's lab excitedly. His dad was busy working on something important when Dib poked him in the side.

"What is it, Son?" He asked, still absorbed in his work.

"Today's a special day, Dad! I can't believe it's all ready here!" He flailed his arms joyfully. Though, his dad continued working.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"I said it's a special day."

"Good for you, Son!"

"Do you even know what day it is?"  
>The professor rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment.<p>

"The anniversary of Super Toast?"

Dib's mouth dropped.

"Dad today is my birthday! Don't you remember?"

"That is great! Tell her I said happy birthday for me."

"Her?"

His dad eyed him as if he had gone insane. Or more insane, according to him.

"Yes. Gaz is a girl after all."

"What does Gaz have to do with this?"

"Son, you just said it was her birthday. It has everything to do about her. Now run along and wish her a happy birthday for me."

Dib's face fell and he walked out of the room sadly.

"He didn't remember my birthday? He couldn't even pay attention enough to realize which child's birthday it was." He walked up to the kitchen and saw Gaz seated at the table. He smiled and hopped beside her.

"Hey, Gaz!"

"What is it now, Dib?" She hissed.

"Do you know what today is?"

She looked up at the ceiling, thinking, before glaring back at her cereal bowl.

"Saturday?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. But do you know what that means."

She chewed carefully before nodding her head.

"I do."

"What?" He jumped up on his chair excitedly. Maybe his dad had forgotten his birthday, but at least he could count on his sister to remember.

"There is a new pizza today at Bloaty's Pizza Hog." She scooted off her chair, grabbed her jacket, and walked out the door. Dib remained at the table as he heard the door slam.

"No one remembered my birthday?" He asked the silence that was his only companion in the empty room. He sighed before grabbing his jacket also and walking out the door.

A chilly wind swept across the town, but Dib did not even notice. He was too upset to notice. His entire family had forgotten his birthday. He did not expect anyone else to remember, but even his own family didn't? He kicked a rock off of the sidewalk and was about to turn a corner when someone ran into him. He fell to the ground and the air was knocked out of him. Struggling to catch his breath, he glanced up and was shocked.

Zim stood before him, peering down at him, obviously confused.

"Dib-worm? What are you doing out?"

"Am I not allowed to take walks now?" He spat angrily. The Irken raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"Why are you outside of your house _and_ upset Dib-beast?"

"It doesn't matter." He struggled to stand, but the invader pushed him down once again.

"Humans are supposed to stay home with their families and be happy on their birthdays, are they not?"

"Look, Zim I don't kno—wait. What did you say?"

"Isn't today the anniversary of your birthing date?"

Dib stared at him in disbelief. Zim had remembered his birthday? How? Why?

"You remembered my birthday?"

He nodded.

"I thought it was important to you humans?"

"It is, but I didn't think you would remember."

Zim shrugged and extended a helping hand to the boy on the ground. He hesitated but accepted it. While he was busy dusting himself off, Zim pulled out a box and shoved it in his arms.

"What's this?"

He glared at him in frustration.

"Dib-stink, I thought you would know of these Earthly traditions more than me? It is called a present. I hope you at least know what a gift is."

He stared at the tiny box and eyed the Irken suspiciously.

"I promise it will not harm you in any manner, Dib." He smirked.

He slid the lid off and removed the white paper that held the present within. A tiny metal box tumbled out of the heap of paper. He held it in his palm and before he got the chance to ask what it was, he discovered a tiny button in the center. He hesitated, but pushed it anyways. Across town, he could hear a whirring sound and then a sound similar to a plane taking off. He panicked and looked around as Zim simply watched, completely amused. He could hear the object approaching and turned in time to see something land directly behind him. His eyes widened with amazement as he recognized the Irken voot cruiser.

"Is this Tak's?"

Zim shook his head.

"Actually, that is the one I travelled to Earth in. I have many more back at the base."

Dib ran his hand along the body of the cruiser and it jumped to life, opening and immediately recognizing its new master.

"Why not try it out, Dib-beast?"

He smiled, but it disappeared quickly. Instead, he remembered his family and remembered that Zim, his enemy, was the only one who had remembered his birthday.

"Why are you doing this, Zim? You hate me. But now you're giving me Irken technology?"

Zim remained emotionless.

"Irkens never had birthday celebrations. Our only focus in life was to serve the Tallest. I was curious to see what this 'celebration' was and I remembered that your birthday was coming soon, so I decided to take part in it and see how it went."

Dib listened, but was still shocked by the kind gesture. Especially because the kind gesture was from Zim. He crawled into the cruiser and looked over the foreign controls.

"Now that you have your gift, human, I shall leave you to your enjoyment!" Zim turned and began marching away.

"Zim." Dib called.

He stopped and turned to face the boy.

"Yes?"

He glanced at the controls and smiled.

"This is Irken technology. You still have to teach me how to use it properly."

Zim smirked and slowly walked up to the vehicle.

"This is not a trap in order to deliver me to a group of scientists who want to perform an autopsy on me, is it?"

"Only if this isn't a trick to get me inside a vehicle that will implode on me."

The alien chuckled and took a seat beside him, closing the voot cruiser.

"Then I suppose we are both safe."

**A/N**

**And there it is! I hope you liked it and I hope they were all in character. I know they may not be, but I tried my best to keep them like themselves. Thanks for reading! Your reviews are extremely appreciated! **


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